Shasta County Biographies
MILTON GORDON GILL
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
Upon the settlement of the Gill family in America they became identified with
the state of Virginia. There the grandfather of Milton Gordon Gill was born and
reared, and there he married Margaret McIntyre, a native of Pennsylvania of
Scotch decent. A few years after his marriage he moved with his family to the
banks of the Mississippi and for a time ran the ferry above St. Louis. While
still in middle age his earth life ended. His wife survived him for many years,
being eight-two at the time of her death, which occurred in Tehama County.
Their son, James William, a native of Virginia, grew to manhood on their
homestead near St. Louis and was ten years of age when his father died. In 1854
he crossed the plains with ox teams and two years later settled near Colusa,
where he improved a tract of raw land. Moving to Yolo County in 1864, he
engaged in the meat business at Knights Landing, but in 1870 returned to Colusa
and became interested in the furniture business. The year 1877 found him a
resident of Tehama County, where he made a specialty of raising grain. More
recently he has become a resident of Ono, Shasta County, where he has been
engaged in the freighting business and is still active and robust,
notwithstanding his long and busy career. In religion he is connected with the
Methodist and Episcopal Church South, while fraternally he holds membership in
the Masons.
While residing in Colusa County in 1856, James William Gill married Margaret C.
Jamison, a native of Kentucky and a pioneer of 1850 in California. The family
of which he is a member settled in Virginia during the colonial period and one
of the valued possessions of the subject of this article is a deed given to them
in 1772 bearing the signature of Lord Fairfax of Virginia. Reverend Milton
Jamison, a native of Virginia, went to Kentucky in an early day and from there
migrated to Missouri and thence to Iowa, in these various states laboring in the
ministry of the Methodist denomination. The discovery of gold in California
turned his thoughts toward the Pacific Coast. Accompanied by his family in
1850, he started overland for the gold mines, but died on the way and was buried
on the plains. The widow and her children pursued their journey with their ox
teams and landed safely in California; the former, who was Nancy Light, a native
of Virginia, died in Colusa at seventy-six years of age. Mrs. Margaret C. Gill
is still living and is now sixty-nine years of age. In her family there are
five daughters and four sons, namely: Martha E., Mrs. Montgomery, of Los
Angeles; Nannie, Mrs. Metcalf, of Mendocino County; Milton G., attorney at law,
of Red Bluff; Charles W., a stockman residing in Shasta County; Edward S., who
conducts a mercantile store in Ono; Laura E., of Shasta County; M. B., who is
engaged in farming and stock raising near Ono; Alice, Mrs. Cox, of Mendocino
County; and Margaret P., a teacher.
During the residence of the family on a farm six miles south of Colusa, Milton
Gordon Gill was born August 16, 1863. When almost fourteen years of age he
accompanied his family to Tehama County and settled four miles from Red Bluff,
where he attended district school. In a short time, however, he was sent to the
Pacific Methodist College at Santa Rosa, where he remained a student for several
years. Later he had the advantage of attending the Pacific Business College in
San Francisco. From 1881 he was interested in farming with his father and his
brother, Charles W., but agriculture did not attract him, his tastes lying
rather in the line of professional work. Under R. E. Raglan he took up the
study of law, which he later pursued at the Cumberland University at Lebanon,
Tennessee, graduating from that institution in 1890 with the degree of L.L.B.
Returning to Red Bluff, he opened an office and in time gained a reputation for
broad professional knowledge. During 1894 he was elected justice of the peace
by a large majority and at the same time served as city recorder and police
judge. At the expiration of his term of service he received the honor in 1898
of nomination as district attorney, being elected to the position, he assumed
his duties in 1899. At the end of four years, his term having expired, he was
elected again by a large majority and is now filling his second term, which
expires January 1907. In the capacity of district attorney he has been
connected with a number of important cases, all of which he has conducted with
keen judgment and in a manner indicative of a high order of intellect.
In Red Bluff, Mr. Gill married Mary Walton, who was born and reared in this
city, and by whom he has two sons, Walton William and Milton Thomas. Mrs.
Gill�s father, Alfred Walton, was born in Walton, Yorkshire, England, and as a
boy went to sea, rounding the Horn to San Francisco as early as 1841 and
returning from this port with his ship to England. Later he settled in Iowa,
whence in 1849 he crossed the plains with ox teams and engaged in mining in the
vicinity of Placerville. That occupation he afterward supplemented with the
keeping of a hotel in Old Shasta, which proved a remunerative employment. On
coming to Red Bluff he became interested in the sheep business, having a
well-stocked farm west of town. At the time of the excitement caused by the
discovery of gold in Idaho he took a pack train to the mines, but the animals
perished in the deep snow and the whole train was lost. Returning to California
via Salt Lake City he embarked in the dray business and on selling it purchased
what is now the oldest dairy in Tehama County. This he conducted until his
retirement from active pursuits. In religion he was reared in the Church of
England and since coming to America has affiliated with the Episcopalians. At
this writing he is eighty-three years of age. The lady who has been his
helpmate for many years bore the maiden name of Mary Ann Ward and is a native of
County Tipperary, Ireland. By he first marriage she has a son, J. H. Reeves,
who is connected with the freight department of the railroad at Red Bluff.
After the death of her first husband in New York she came to San Francisco,
where a brother made his home and later was united with Mr. Walton. Of their
union two daughters and two sons are now living, namely: Agnes, wife of H. J.
Franck, of French Gulch, Shasta County; Thomas R., member of the firm of Walton
Brothers, dairymen, and president of the board of trustees of Red Bluff; Alfred
J., who is connected with his brother in the dairy business in Red Bluff; and
Mary, wife of Milton Gordon Gill, also of Red Bluff.
In fraternal matters Mr. Gill is especially active in the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, into which he was initiated in Red Bluff Lodge No. 76, and he is
past noble grand of the lodge. In 1902-03 he was honored with the office of
grand member of the Grand Lodge of California, and is now grand representative
of the Sovereign Grand Lodge. The convention of 1903 in Baltimore and 1904 in
San Francisco he attended in the capacity of delegate. In the Encampment to
which he belongs he is past chief patriarch and his connection with the order is
further enlarged through his membership in the Order of Rebekahs and canton No.
5 of San Francisco.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF
THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY, J. M. Guinn, Chapman Publishing Co., 1906